No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Battered But Finishes Strong

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (April 20, 2008) David Reutimann brought the No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine across the finish line in the eleventh position in Sunday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Corona 200 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course speedway. 

Starting in the 33^rd spot after making slight contact with the wall in Friday’s second practice and being cautious on his qualifying run, Reutimann and Crew Chief Jerry Baxter formulated a fuel mileage strategy to position themselves up front at the end of the 80-lap event. 

Pitting early in the opening laps to top off the fuel cell moved Reutimann toward the back of the pack, but he quickly began moving forward.  The Dream Machine was in 21^st on lap 15 when most of the field began green flag pit stops to play their fuel strategy.  As a result, Reutimann moved to the front and broke into the top-five by lap 20.

Fading slightly to ninth on lap 28, the Dream Machine was in need of another pit stop and would have benefited from a caution flag. However, the caution did come out on lap 34 when the No.09 car reacted to a spin ahead of him and clipped the left front of the Dream Machine causing significant, but superficial damage.

Reutimann brought the car into the pits on lap 36 and the crew went to work repairing the damage and straightening the sheet metal.  They also changed four tires, filled the car with fuel and made a major chassis adjustment hoping to make the car turn better in the corners.

Restarting 29^th on lap 39, Reutimann moved up quickly through the field and took over the 14^th spot by lap 45.  Baxter called David into the pits for a fuel-only stop on lap 47 relinquishing 11^th and returning back to the track in 21^st.  

Reutimann dodged several spins ahead of him and ran through the grass on lap 54 but did no damage and actually picked up a position.  With 30 laps to go, the Dream Machine was 15^th and still moving forward. 

With 20 to go and his sights set on breaking back into the top 10, Reutimann took the 11^th spot but could not gain any ground on the 10^th-place car as David’s tires were wearing thin and his lap times started to lengthen.

After a battle with Sam Hornish in the No.12 car in the closing laps, Reutimann fought to stay ahead of the 12 car and took the checkered flag in 11^th.

“I wish I hadn’t crashed Friday and lost all of that practice time because I think we could have a better car at the beginning of the race,” David stated after the race. “We had a decent finish.  Jerry made some smart calls in the pits and the crew did a good job on the stops.  We just ran out of tires there at the end.”